GCA's Travel Space

There is one thing that strikes you the minute you step out of your accommodation and begin to wander around the streets of the French capital – the Parisians are a very passionate race. From the way they dress, to the way they walk, right down to the way they guzzle coffee and scoff croissants, you can tell they have a zest for life. This tends to rub off on you the longer you are there. You won’t want to miss a thing, whether it be a monument, a museum, or a bar you may have heard about. You will want to see it all. There is so much to see around the city that you won’t know where to begin. Culture is rich in the French capital with some of Europe’s best-known and most popular museums here. If you want to fill camera on instantly recognizable landmarks, in Paris they are a dime a dozen. And if you want to see how the French really go about their daily routine, you can do so at one of the city’s many cafés. Everything from the streets to the shopping areas, to the museums to the cathedrals – everything were created to be a piece of art. Famous Parisian artists designed even the train stations and street signs. As you know, shopping is something paris is renowned for, and rightly so. They have endless options of fantastic places to shop, whether it’s the middle range brands such as Mango, Adidas, and they also have high end brands like Prada, Versace, and Hugo. And I was kindly educated that there is also a range of the ultra-high end brands which are designers that only set up shops in Paris with one of a kind items on sale. For the holiday mood sake, we had to walk up that street to see (we didn’t buy anything though). Finding a restaurant in Paris is never hard, but trying to find a good restaurant is perhaps a little more of a challenge. Being the most tourist-frequented spot in the world means that restaurant owners can afford to be slack, as there will never cease to be a supply of new and unaware clients. We didn’t want to head to those kind of restaurants, but rather the local boutique restaurants where the local would spend some time there. We came across this fondue restaurant where you would dip pieces of beef into a pot of oil. They supply a wide range of dips for the beef. And to our pleasant surprise, the French fries and the beef is free flow – ala vonte. We spend the next days visiting famous Paris monuments, namely, the Eiffel Tower, which was built by engineer Gustave Eiffel in 1889, in celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution (1789). Initially considered an eyesore, today it is the landmark of Paris. At 984 feet (300 m) high, the tower offers a spectacular panoramic view of the entire city from all directions. The view at sunset is especially breathtaking, and well worth the long line to the top. Next, we headed to the Notre Dame de Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral) which was the first cathedral to be built, marking Paris as the capital of France. Its construction began in 1163, but took almost two centuries to complete. The cathedral is designed based on Gothic architecture, with several large rose windows, colorful stained glasses, pointed arches and spires, and innovative sculptures, such as gargoyles. The cathedral saw many historical moments, including the crowning of Henry VI of England in 1430. And because of the novel and movie, The Da Vinci Code, we had to make a trip down to the La Musée du Louvre (The Louvre Museum), a fortress in the Middle Ages, is now home to Leonardo Da Vinci's world-renowned painting, the Mona Lisa, and an impressive collection of art and antiquities from the world over. It would take months to complete a tour of everything in the museum. Therefore, we only chose what to see and headed out to the next place of interest. The rest will be kept for a later date. Our final place was the La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (The Sacred-Heart Basilica), located on Montmarte Hill in the north of Paris, was erected in 1873 and is an imposing reminder of the sins committed by the city. As this basilica was on the top of the hill, you could have a panoramic view of the whole Paris. I must say, it takes a while to absorb the view and the history behind the whole area. Being a capital to the haute couture, masterpieces of art and architecture, and temples of fine dining, but also cozy bistros, vibrant ethnic enclaves, and bohemian cafés. I had one of the most memorable holiday here, this city of light truly glitters brighter than ever.

This was the first time we were planning a trip to Myanmar, and our first impression of the military state was not too positive. However, after spending 2 weeks in the Myanmar, we came back with an entire different perspective of the country. We arrived in Bagan in Christmas 2006, and spent a whole 4 days exploring the entire state. Bagan is known to be dotted with thousands of ancient pagodas, stupas, shrines, ordination halls and monuments. Understanding that the locals are very religious, this is no surprise. We were told that Bagan is one of the one of the richest archaeological sites in Southeast Asia with 2230 monuments still standing and some 1000 in ruins, there were originally about 4500, as many as 600 disappeared into the Ayeyarwady - Irrawaddy during the summer flooding. We visited far too many pagodas to remember, but one stood out, the Shwezigon Pagoda. This was a magnificent monument which contained not only Buddha’s images, but also a artefact belonging to the Buddha himself. This almighty pagoda was painstaking stuck on with pure 24 carat gold. I stood in awe when I came before the pagoda, especially for the fact that it was glistering in the sun (due to the gold). Bagan is also a great place for beautiful local art, such as lacquer ware, bamboo works, cloths as well as paintings. We stopped by this little shop run by 2 brothers and bought a pair of beautiful paintings of Buddha. Be sure to be pestered to buy some cheap lacquer ware whenever you arrive at any pagodas. As poverty is still rather high in Myanmar, people still live without electricity and water. We spend the last days of our trip wandering in the local villages. Much to our surprise, we were warmly received by the locals. We were even invited to attend a local gifts offering ceremony in one of the local shrine. The people of Bagan were very much hospitable and friendly when they see foreigners. They were never too shy to give a smile and a drink when you enter their homes. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly during this trip, and would definitely make a trip back here again.

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, regarded as one of the most wanted holiday destination of many south-east asians. It is a place where the fun never stops, and where the city never really sleeps, literally. There’s always something to do, be it shopping in the malls like Siam Paragon, Siam Centre, Siam Square, Discovery Centre, Gaysorn, or visiting the grand palaces, temple of the Emerald Buddha or even taking a boat trip down the River Kwai. As much as there are the sights to see, there are also the gastronomical cuisines of the native Thais. Whenever I was in Bangkok (I have been there 5 times), I would be seen ordering the Green Curry, Tom Yum Khoon, Sautéed beef with Basil, and the pineapple/olive rice. It doesn’t take a lot to go down to the streets to try these dishes from the authentic street hawkers. The Thais are also very devoted to Buddhism, and one can see from the amount of effort and time put into the creation of the Stupas and the Temples. Some of which are stuck on with golden leaves (pure 24K gold) until the stupas are glistering in the sun. There’s also the worlds longest and largest reclining Buddha, where his feet were engraved telling the life of Buddha. I must say, I was taken away seeing how long the statue was. Makes one wonder, how does people in the ancient times, have the technology and equipments to makes these towering temples and Buddhas.

My partner and I decided to spend a few days exploring the heart of the Philippines, Manila. So we got ourselves off the usual routine, booked ourselves on a flight to Manila, and soon we were off wandering and enjoying the sites of the city. Manila strikes me as a city where it comprises of many diverse cultures. You can be found looking at sky-high office tower blocks and at the same time on the other corner, you can find many old, historical museums and churches. As much as Manila was more unfavorably known for the bombing that happened previously, and the political issues, there was still a lot of friendliness and charm amongst the locals to go around. We spend 2 days exploring off the beaten track (of shopping malls and fine dining) to wander about in the older, more historical part of manila. We decided to head towards Intramuros, where the original city of manila first stood. There we visited the oldest church in Manila, as well as the previous monastery. The architecture and the churches were majestic. It was really something to be able to stand on the ground looking up into all the many beautiful paintings of Jesus Christ and his travels as well as paintings of the history of the holy saints. You could sense that Philippinos takes pride in their religion and devote themselves entirely to the practice of Christianity. They even have church service within the shopping belts! But of course, being Singaporeans, means we must hit the shopping belts at least once. I must say, security is pretty tight as every bag is checked upon entry of the malls as well as purchases are checked and stamped by the security guards. Though this may be deemed redundant, I believe there must be a better reason for that. We stopped by all our well-known designer brands to sniff out the promotions and special deals, before heading off to a nice restaurant on the Green Belt, more commonly known as the shopping belt. The local cuisines were the highlight of the trip. At every meal, we ate till we were bursting at the seams! The fried pork knuckles, the odd-looking seaweed salad, the fried fish and the pork sausages were fantastic. I wish there were more of such back in Singapore. Coming back from a country full of hospitality and history, I couldn’t help but think of how nice it was to spend more time understanding the culture and practices there. There was always a sense of friendliness from the locals. You would have never felt that you were a tourist, but rather a friend.